Guildford Courthouse - A Polemos Ruse de Guerre Refight

Next in my series of Polemos Ruse de Guerre refights from the scenarios in the rulebook is Guildford Court House, again re-themed from the American Revolution/American War of Independence to the War of 1812, given that is what my collection matches.  Again I have reduced this in size both in terms of playing area and numbers of troops to make it a more "DBA"-sized game, which had some strange/amusing effects in the refight, although this is very much within the rules, both in spirit and in letter.

Guildford Courthouse features a smaller British force attacking a larger American one, which has deployed its weakest troops in the front to encourage the British to attack into the depth of the position, manned by the best troops, in a manner similar to that which succeeded at Cowpens.

The Forces:

United States' Army:
C-in-C: Greene
Williams' Bde (Decisive): 2 bases Well-trained Infantry, 3 bases Infantry
Butler's Bde (Ploddind): 3 bases Poor Infantry, 1 base 6lb Artillery
Stevens' Bde (Capable): 4 bases Infantry
Kirkwood's Bde (Decisive): 2 bases Well-trained Riflemen
Washington's Bde (Decisive): 2 bases Trained Cavalry (optionally 1 x Well-Trained)

British Army:
C-in-C: Cornwallis
O'Hara's Bde (Decisive): 1 base Well-trained Infantry, 1 base Well-trained Light Infantry, 1 base 6lb Artillery
Webster's Bde (Decisive): 2 bases Infantry
Leslie's Bde (Decisive): 2 bases Infantry, 1 base 6lb Artillery
Tarleton's Bde (Decisive): 2 bases Cavalry

The Set-Up:
 

British (bottom) face the Americans (centre and top)

Overview - the forces face each other across a clearing.  The flanks are lightly wooded.

Another view

The best US troops defend the hill in the rear

The US militiamen defend in two lines, in the wooded area between the clearing and the stream

Corwallis troops formed up across the other edge of the plain

Another view; Cornwallis' infantry in the front line, his light troops and grenadiers behind, and Tarleton's cavalry in the rear

Another view

The Battle:

Cornwallis eschews fancy manoeuvring since he is outnumbered and decides he is better off simply trusting in the power of his bayonets to get to grips with the American militiamen before they can withdraw.  In shades of Fontenoy, the British advance and invite the Americans to fire first...

Which backfires somewhat, when the power of that volley, combined with some canister, routs the 71st Foot in a bloody moment...

The British musketry is somewhat ineffective...but this has the unintended consequence of persuading the American militiamen to stay in position...

"They can't drill, but they sure can shoot"...heavy casualties are inflicted on the redocats by the North Carolina militiamen

Reinforced by some Grenadiers however, the British generals reform their troops, fire a second and much more effective volley, and launch a bayonet charge...some of the militiamen and the riflemen are already running (centre, far-side of the stream)

...after a short, sharp fight the militiamen are in full retreat (top and top-left)...the British capture the American gunners and the entire brigade collapses...as do the riflemen on the American left flank (extreme right)

With the morale of his whole army wavering as the plan has gone wrong, Greene waves his second line into the attack: they discharge a powerful volley and disorder the British (see the casualties in the centre)

Greene waves his hat and dends his Virginians forward, with Stevens also leading, sword drawn...

The 33rd Regiment on the left of the British line holds and sends their opponents running (centre-left)

The rout of the British Grenadiers (bottom-right) and other British infantry (bottom left) makes the British Cavalry join the rout too, despite not firing a shot, crossing swords or losing a man!!

However, too many Americans have been killed and routed and Greene's army collapses, even though Cornwallis' troops are nearly broken also...

Game Notes: Quite a small, short affair this - almost a vignette of a battle, given the small number of troops, particularly on the British side, and the set-up which encourages a quick attack, rather than any fancy manoeuvring.  The American army rolled '10' for loss of cohesion after the rout of its leading militia brigade and from that point, the loss of another formation, or the loss of a single commander, would have finished them off.  Almost hidden from the main events, the stars of the show were actually the British infantry fighting on the flanks in the woods which surprisingly were able to destroy the opposing US riflemen.  This forced Greene to launch his "do-or-die" attack in an attempt to simultaneously break the British and thus save the game.  The Virginian militiamen fought fantastically well but the British were able to hold on - they lost units, but not formations: except for the cavalry of course, which I had clumsily brought up too close and misaligned.  I left them in a position in which two routed units could pass through them, and thus they were routed in their turn.  There are quite a few subtleties in these rules, which differ from others from the Polemos stable in particular, the shaken rules are simpler, but more straightforwardly brutal!
I did notice that cavalry in these rules can fight effectively in light woods.
As a game, there were absolutely no problems, everything went fine, a really smooth game.  Recommended.